09/01/2020

Telecom sector partners are cooperating to ensure the availability of mobile services when the road is open for traffic

 90 per cent of the Sharqiyah Expressway will be covered by basic mobile (voice) services
20 additional mobile communication stations to provide high-speed Internet services along the road
 As part of its ongoing efforts  to ensure the provision of telecom services in infrastructural projects across the Sultanate,  Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), headed by its CEO H.E. Dr. Hamed bin Salim Al  Rawahi, had undertaken a field visit recently along with the sector partners Oman Tower Company, Oman Broadband Company, Omantel,  Ooredoo and Vodafone to learn about the needs  of this road in terms of communication services and to complement the implementation of its  plan to provide mobile network coverage (basic voice service and mobile Internet) for this vitally important project. The plan also involves  providing network coverage inside the tunnels and finding  solutions to  challenges related to geographical conditions , which may affect the service quality in a road that is important for  the economic and tourism activities in the Sultanate.
 
 
To complement the implementation of what was agreed upon during the visit, TRA held a meeting with business partners headed by Eng. Yousuf bin Abdullah Al Balushi,  Vice President for Spectrum Affairs, to discuss urgent solutions and define the roles of each party and expedite the implementation of services before opening of the road. Eng. Yousuf thanked all telecom sector partners, including telecommunications service providers, Ministry of Transport and the  implementing company for the project , for their eagerness to implement the coverage plans.
 
By the end of this month , 90 per cent of the Sharqiyah Expressway will be covered by basic mobile (voice) services in most of its parts. The telecom companies will provide urgent solutions to cover the tunnels by installing external communication stations on both sides of each tunnel to ensure the availability of the service when the road is open for traffic.
 
 The TRA is working with telecom partners to improve the current coverage on the Sharqiyah Expressway  by building 20 additional mobile communication stations to provide voice and high-speed Internet services. Work is also underway to implement special global solutions for tunnels' coverage such as  systems that are specifically designed to suit the nature of the tunnels and can accommodate more than one service provider.

Up